Fable: The Lost Chapters Review

Date: 10/16/2005

By James Johnson

Fable: The Lost Chapters has been largely successful in the console realm
winning over many game fans by providing an original world to explore and a
degree of complexity not normally available in console RPGs. Fortunately, this
trend continues with the PC version and the game continues to do an excellent
job of connecting the player with the character and the RPG world. By far, the
most entertaining part of Fable: The Lost Chapters is making choices during the
game, and then watching the character, and the world around them, change to
reflect your decisions.

The story behind Fable: The Lost Chapters is pretty simple: you are a young
boy who becomes orphaned from his family when bandits raid your hometown.
Luckily you are taken from the town and brought to a Guild where you are trained
to become a Hero. The game starts you as the young boy in your hometown, and
although you do get to do some exploring and interact with the townspeople, the
game doesn’t really get rolling until the raid is over and you arrive at the
Guild. It is here at the Guild where you as a player will learn about the 3 main
Hero attributes available to develop in the game: Strength, Skill, and Will.
Strength is primarily a physical ability and can be developed during the game by
leveling up the characters physique, toughness, and health. Skill is dependent
entirely on your character's use of ranged combat weapons. In Fable: The Lost
Chapters there are two main ranged weapons: the bow and the crossbow. Finally,
Will is the ability to use magical powers. A multitude of spells are available
to use and each spell can be leveled up as you gain more experience. The Guild
will become your base of operations and the quests you will receive originate
there.

Flame on!

Earning experience points in Fable: The Lost Chapters can change based on how
you play. In this way, earning experience points follows the theme of the game:
everything you do can affect the world and change the possible outcomes. While
most of the experience points you will earn are put in a common pool that can be
used on any of the 3 attributes, you will earn a substantial amount of bonus
experience points based on which abilities you are using. Fight using the sword
and your player will gain strength points. Using the bow during combat will
provide skill points and employing magic and casting spells will yield will
points. Taking this theme even further, your character’s appearance will change
based on the strength of one ability over another. For example, melee combat
will develop your character’s muscles while use of magic will cause your
character to age more quickly. It’s worthwhile to note that spending too much
time in prison during the game will also make your player age noticeably.

Overall the singular character in Fable: The Lost Chapters is more than
interesting enough for most gamers, even the experienced RPGers. There are lots
of ways to exercise alignment choices and affect the development of your
character. At the very beginning of the game you will learn this lesson quite
well when you must deal with the consequences of catching a local man cheating
on his wife. As a young boy the game confronts you with a decision: will you
keep the man’s secret or reveal his adulterous ways to his wife? Adding
complexity to the question you can choose one way while in front of the man, and
then choose the opposite when you run into his wife later on. Hint: If you choose to
keep his secret, then tell his wife later on, make sure you run after the wife; she definitely makes a “scene”.

Although some may complain that the game is “too short” (there are many
reports of players completing the game in under 12 hours, sometimes under 10)
the developers did go to noticeable lengths to try and add “meat”. Fable: The
Lost Chapters is billed as 1/3rd larger than the original game. The majority of
the additions are extra optional quests. The keyword here is optional. For
example, frequenting the Darkwood Bordello and enjoying the company of the women
there, or competing in each of the town fight clubs, will add time to the game,
but it won’t really change that much in the world. By far, the most change comes
about by completing the core quests you receive from the Guild. In my case, I
finished up the core quests in less than 16 hours with only casual play. Of
course everyone will play differently, but I found that the real fun aspect of
this game is about exploring every little nook and corner of the world. The
enjoyment doesn’t come about by thinking of the story as an epic or judging the
game solely on how many hours it takes to complete.